A protest is (by dictionary.com): “an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid”

A riot is (by dictionary.com): “a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons acting together in a disrupting and tumultuous manner in carrying out their private purposes”

On the other hand, terrorism is (by dictionary.com): “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes” So maybe the ‘protestors’ were more terroristic than just plain rioters?

During the execution of a court-ordered warrant, a black male was identified in a vehicle that police identified as a man with “a gun and appeared to be a threat”. They added a gun was recovered at the scene.

This specific article, n.pr/2cQhpcA, went a step further that even though it was a black officer shooting the black subject, who eventually died.

Rioters then immediately formed and became very disrupted and the police responded with riot control measures, namely teargas. However, the rioters stepped up the craziness by throwing rocks at police, injuring a dozen or so officers, damaging police cars, attacking reporters, and disrupting traffic.

The media continues to fail to report facts and instead focuses on Jerry Springer-style news reporting hoping to continue selling newspaper and television ratings by using inciting words hoping to cause more emotions to flare.

As a veteran, who is well aware of the 22 US Vets a day that chose to commit suicide (because they feel they have no other choice), this article caught my interest. In addition, as an American, I am well-aware of my culture’s lack of exercise and constant over-eating which unfortunately equates to even school age kids becoming obese. This is a very quick read with hard-hitting facts, graphs, and other data points, a quick summary of the information present in the article is displayed below to peak your interest as well.

On 2 June, 2016, Professor Jin-Won Kwon and his colleagues (Dae-Kwon Kim, Hyun Jin Song, and Eui-Kyung Lee) published an article that examined the relationship between obesity and the risk of suicidal behavior would differ according to sex and age.

“Suicide is one of the major problems of public health throughout the world. Over the past 45 years, the suicide rate has increased by 60% and worldwide, 800,000 people commit suicide every year. In particular, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged between 15 and 29 years.”

“In Korea, deaths from suicide soared after the economic crisis in 19972 and, according to a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, in 2013, the suicide rate was 28.5 per 100 000 people, the highest among all 33 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member nations at the time.”

Conclusion: ….read for yourself 😉

After you read it, please discuss your thoughts… Do your own life experiences support the proposed results and conclusion? If you’ve lived in Korea, have you known people that struggle with this issue or have also chose to commit suicide because of these issues? Or do you believe their conclusion is flawed for one reason or another?

I’ve now been in Korea three months, and while I understand national pride is a trait found in every country… I don’t understand Korea’s youth ignorant pride and current trend to shun 漢字 (Hanja, Hanzi, or Kanji) by any other pronunciation.

For example… I live in 한남동, or Hannam-dong, or more appropriately 漢南洞…. Which means “China”, “South”, and “Caves”… So it wouldn’t be a stretch to call it “Caves of South China”.

Some Korean translators have told me that “Hannam” was only named such because of its location inbetween the Namsan and Han River…. And here’s where I start to chuckle. Even by this explanation, supposedly the name comes from the names of those two locations… Let’s take a look at the 漢字… We have:

Namsan or 南山 for South Mountain
And
Han River or 漢江 for Chinese River.

Now, I won’t say each, or every time, but when I have talked about the spelling of the Han River, Koreans will automatically attempt* to write 韓 for “Korea”… And when I tell them they are wrong… They get upset and try to defend it saying it’s the Korean River. I ask them to look it up, and they (the upset ones) will continue just to deny the correct spelling, say I am wrong, and continue to get offended.

I then ask that if they are so offended by their own official spelling of Han (China, not Korea), then why don’t they stage a protest or movement and attempt to change world opinion like they keep attempting to do with 竹島 (Takeshima), 日本海 (Sea of Japan), or the 黄海 (Yellow Sea).
Any thoughts?

*Note: I’ll put this here to not further digress, but to emphasize the point I make above–that the ~30 and below generation of Koreans do not know how to write Chinese words used in the Korean language… Or even know which word is really Korean or not. For example, one of the words most associated with Korean culture is: 감사합니다 (kamsahabnida) means thank you (with a korean ending making it a polite word)…. But this is not a Korean word. The same word exists in both Japanese and Chinese–because it is a Chinese word 感謝… Meaning a feeling of thanks. The Japanese (young and old) acknowledge the words that are Chinese in nature… So why don’t the younger Koreans? (Older Koreans I’ve spoken to at least acknowledge words that come from China, but have still debated the spelling of Han River)

…and freedom of speech has continued to become infringed upon to all by the negative actions of a few (or just one). Political correctness liberals have evolved into a new beast — taking heart to the Wile E. Coyote standards of creating names (i.e. “Carnivorous vulgaris instead of its real name of Canis latrans)… “Extremus Querela”. These extreme whiners have emboldened a new sense of entitlement that “if I’m offended” everyone else needs to change… “now” As seen by legislature being pushed by South Carolina for the removal its historic Confederate Flag, to Walmart pulling merchandise with the Confederate Flag on it… I’m just glad Dukes of Hazard isn’t on TV anymore, as I would have hated that show to be canceled since the “General Lee” has the confederate flag on its top.

Abolishing slavery was not the reason the North and South fought in the civil war; the reason was the south disagreeing with laws being passed in the federal government (just happened to be about slavery — although these laws were focused on the new territories, not the southern states). While slavery was the issue at hand (for the territories), the war was fought (by the north) to keep the south in the union, while the south fought for independence.

From the southerners’ perspective, the confederate states “legally” seceded (passing state ordinances) to continue doing what they wanted, creating a new country (with its own flag), the Confederate States of America. Interestingly enough, while the war started in 1865, it wasn’t until 1868 that the North (US Supreme Court) ruled that the secession was illegal.

But what… if a state doesn’t want to abide by what the federal government imposes… does this mean the federal government can invade states to force them to abide what the federal government wants…? For example… some states have now legalized marijuana and (gay) marriages. Will the federal government invade these states that have legalized marijuana, and don’t allow these marriages? (or go to war for pro-marijuana, or anti-marriages for LGBTs….? ..etc, etc)

The seceded states created a provisional constitution, capital, and had begun seizing most of the Union’s federal assets located in the south. However, the Union still had fortified armies (Ft Sumter being one of them) and refused to hand it and other’s over. Ft Sumter being right next to Charleston. With tensions high the war kicked off with a shot from the south, and having been outnumbered around two to one… was only a matter of time before they lost.

Is it right to ban displaying a part of history to appease a few? Some people still have the U.S.S.R. flag, to remember the days of the cold war. How does a historic flag flying, in a state capital, get attributed to one person who committed an atrocity? If this is the case… if a terrorist or extremist, who happens to be islamic, commits a hate-crime (say killing Christians because they’re not Muslim)… will Walmart ban islamic items as well?

Just something to think about.

Note: I’m not for slavery, just thought I’d mention this war wasn’t about slavery.. it was fought by the north to bring the south back into the union. Cheers 😉

I had the pleasure of staying at the 花遊 (Kayuu) Ryokan (a Japanese-style hotel with outdoor Onsen). It was a marvelous experience. As most ryokans are, the price high ($100 per person–Japanese charge by people not just the room).

But the scenery, the easy access to the town (15-30 minutes walking) and shoreline (2-15 minutes walking), as well as the Whale Museum (2 minutes) is definitely worth the visit.

The museum shows all sorts of items (bones, stages of growth for both whales and dolphins) and also features dolphin and whale shows, with additional things to do (like Sealife Park in Hawaii)… Except much cheaper. Please take a look.

Taiji is known for its whale and dolphin hunting and capturing as well as the surrounding scenery. While Taiji does a good job of capturing Dolphins, when talking with the residents most people have a taste for whale and rarely eat dolphin. Another town, Shingu, is known for their dolphin menus.

What I found interesting tho, is when I initially tried talking to people in Taiji… They were a little apprehensive in dealing with me. There are posters written about the town for “no admittance”, “no photos”, “no interviews” because of all the problems activists have caused and continue to cause in the town. But once they understood I was there only to sightsee and learn about their culture, they opened right up and gave me their opinions.

I did meet one other foreigner, a Canadian, at the Whale Museum… She told me her story and when I told her I was there sight seeing, she was very cold and said something to the affect of “you should never come back here”.

I make it a point wherever I go to eat local specialty foods and drink local spirits and Taiji was no different. I had the opportunity to eat both a full course whale dinner and also was able to get my hands on some dolphin sashimi. The whale actually had decent dishes, but I can’t say I thought everything was appetizing… but this is also coming from a guy raised on beef, chicken, and pork for almost all of his life,

Now the dolphin… I was astonished, it was actually good as sashimi… The meat and fat mix made it fairly tasty and u can see why some Japanese would continue to eat it, as well as whale.

Here’s an interesting fact for you; do you know the meaning of the Chinese and Japanese word (kanji letter spelling is the same, but of course the pronunciations are different) for dolphin?

Answer: 海豚。”Sea” and “Pig”
豚肉 is pork (Pig meat)

So if you’re judging Japan based on their hunting of Dolphins, please understand their history and culture first before you try and change them. But if you must protest, do it politely and with respect. They have families their trying to provide for.

On September 1, 2014 a motorist (or someone in a vehicle) saw men storm out of vehicles barricading another vehicle, smash windows, steal the car, and kidnap the occupants—called a “Hulidap” in the Philippines. This incident happened about 10 kilometers away from the U.S. Embassy on a major highway, in daylight hours, in Manila — the capital. Not exactly what an advertisement living up to the “It’s more fun in the Philippines” travel brochure… Maybe it should be updated to “It’s not so safe in the Philippines”…

A hulidap is a merger of the Filipino word “Huli” (meaning catch) and “Hold-up” (thus Hulidap) and became popular after a rise in police corruption cases being reported in the Philippines. Armed robberies (after being detained) are not the only form of corruption within the police force, other articles describe cops “arresting” or detaining individuals until a fee is a paid and the “infraction” is forgiven and the individual(s) free to go.

After seeing this incident, the motorist quickly took a picture and immediately shared it on twitter (whose account has since then been deleted, probably out of fear for his or her life). The EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) highway cameras also captured the event, but the witness photograph showed better detail of the vehicles and license plate numbers.

The armed men took approximately USD $45,000 from the vehicle and another $1500 from their victim’s bank accounts; however, these weren’t just ordinary thugs… these were Philippine National Police (PNP) officers, included among them were two Senior Inspectors and one Chief Inspector.

I have been to the Philippines and, while there, I was usually in the company of someone who had a bodyguard… but then there was a time I went to the Mall of Asia without security and found myself dealing with a bomb scare and seeing first hand mass-panic. In times like that, I want to be able to have trust in the local police, but negative publicity like this incident will continue to make trusting the department difficult.

Fortunately there are good police within the PNP, as the nine members (with a possible tenth still being sought after) have been identified and arrested—again, thanks to the witness who took and shared the picture. It’s just a shame this organization is being tarnished by incidents such as these… as the rogue cops within this organization are identified and rooted out; hopefully, people will once again start to feel safe under the watch of their police forces.

I would still recommend traveling to the Philippines — as there is a lot of history and the resort areas are very nice… I’ve been to Ft Santiago, Binondo (Chinatown), Taal valcano and Cebu… However, I definitely recommend traveling with trusted friends, especially if they are local Filipinos.

After Japan has already made headway with India and Australia on stronger relationships between their countries, the next logical step would seem to have Australia and India become stronger as well. During this most recent meeting, Australia returned stolen artifacts and donated $20 million to fund joint Indo-Australian projects. While these are positive steps to improve relationships between two countries, the sale of uranium seems a bit extreme. On 5 Sep, Australia agreed to ship uranium to India for use in creating nuclear energy plants, but is this a good idea?

Prime Minister Mobi stated that the uranium would solely be used to providing energy for its 1.25 billion people; however, how can Mobi guarantee this? An article yesterday stated that in 2013, $20 trillion dollars disappeared through corruption, tax evasion and corporate malpractices—other mega scams cost India $1 trillion a year regarding its natural resources.

Mobi has stated these problems stemmed from the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and while Mobi has firmly stated his focus is on anti-corruption efforts… it’s an ongoing problem that will take a considerable amount of time to see any sort of change.

Australia originally decided against selling India uranium since it was not a signature member on the non-proliferation treaty (even though India already has nuclear weapons), but changed their mind after receiving “necessary commitments” – though the article doesn’t really state what these are. In addition, Sydney stated it wasn’t going to be involved in New Dehli’s internal affairs regarding its “nuclear power industry or safety standards”… but shouldn’t they have a requirement to remain involved in how the uranium is managed, stored, and used…?